Nokia C3 Unboxing and Review

Launched just a month ago, this candybar phone with full qwerty keyboard is Nokia’s latest budget phone. Yes, it is a budget phone but its specs will surely blow you away (and totally not your pockets).

Nokia had to cut off some features to be able to lessen its manufacturing price. With the assumption that this phone will be bought by those tight in budget, Nokia didn’t include a 3G and GPS chips, and decreased the internal memory to just 55mb.

Markets C & D are not frequent 3G/HSPA users so the absence of 3G in this phone is just apt. Besides, leeching for free Wifi is more economical than getting online through 3G/HSPA. This is the very reason why Nokia included a WLan (WiFi) 802.11 b/g in this phonem which means you can use this phone like a laptop and poke your Facebook friends on the go.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNMSABOw2oA[/youtube]

The Software

This is the first qwerty candybar Nokia phone which runs on Symbian Series 40 UI (6th edition). Nokia may have thought that Series 40 is the best OS to cope up with the mid-range processor that this phone has. The installed OS can run Ovi Mail, Ovi Chat, and other social networking apps just like Facebook and Twitter via Communities App. Incidentally, this is the first Nokia phone which connects to the social network from the homescreen.

[stextbox id=”info”]INFO: Qwerty candybars like E63, E71 and E72 run on Symbian Series 60.[/stextbox]

The Form

The phone looks very similar to the Nokia E63. There are 3 colors to choose from: hot pink, gold yellow and granite. In granite, the phone looks business like; but to those who want a chic and ready-to-party look, then you can choose hot pink and gold yellow.

The outer shell of this phone is sturdy which makes it more like expensive rather than a budget-type phone. It is 15%-25% thicker than the E72 and boasts a solid back metal plate. The ports are placed on perfect spots: on the left hand side are the micro USB and microSD card slots, while a 3.5mm audio slots are neatly located on the top, along with Nokia’s proprietary charging slot.

The camera, located at the back of the phone, is obviously not top-notch at 2MP, no flash, QVGA video recording. It takes pictures quickly for a budget phone, but suffers in low light. Modifying the white balance is the only solution to this.

The C3’s keyboard is quite similar to E63’s (see picture below) and E72’s, although the former’s space bar is longer. The typing experience is somewhat better than E63 and E72.

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Giancarlo Viterbo is a Filipino Technology Journalist, blogger and Editor of GadgetPilipinas.net, He is also a Geek, Dad and a Husband. He knows a lot about washing the dishes, doing some errands and following instructions from his boss on his day job. Follow him on twitter: @gianviterbo and @gadgetpilipinas.